Obuasi, March 26, GNA - A 33-member delegation from the Riverside of California, USA is to visit Obuasi in September this year as part of preparatory arrangements to formalize sister-city relations between the two cities.

A six-man team from the Riverside City is expected at Obuasi in June ahead of the September visit to undertake feasibility studies, especially in the areas of general business, education, citrus project and culture where the two cities intended to exchange relations.

Mr Joseph Kwadwo Boampong, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) who announced this at an assembly meeting at Obuasi, said the visit was in response to an earlier one made by a team from the Obuasi Sister Cities Organization and the Municipal Assembly.

Mr Boampong said the world had become a global village and that one should not be content with what one had.

"That is why Obuasi is busy with the sister-city relations with Riverside City".

Mr Boampong noted that the time had come for business concerns in the municipality to get organized and pull resources together to meet the challenges ahead in the new business development drive that would be dictated by the relations.

He said the Agriculture sub-committee of the Assembly had been challenged to rekindle the interest of the people in citrus plantation. The MCE urged the assembly members to embrace the sister-city idea since most communities world-wide had witness marked improvement in development as a result of such sister-cities relations. "Every assembly member, every worker, every Tom, Dick and Harry should pray for the success of this sister-city relations with the Riverside City", Mr Boampong emphasised.

Alhaji Ziblim Yakubu, the Municipal Co-ordinating Director who presented a report on their visit to Riverside to the Assembly, said Obuasi stood to benefit immensely from the relationship and called for unity and a sense of direction from the Assembly Members.